No Place To Go, by Maynard Dixon, 1935 - Montana Historical Society

FIGURE 18.1: No Place To Go, by Maynard Dixon, 1935

READ TO FIND OUT:
■ Why Montanans were already struggling
when the Great Depression began
■ What Montanans did to survive during
the Great Depression
■ How the government helped put people
back to work
■ How the Great Depression changed Montana
The Big Picture
The Great Depression brought tremendous hardship
to Montana towns and families. Just as hard times
transform a person, the Great Depression changed
Montana’s personality.
What was the hardest time you have ever had to live through?
How did surviving that time change you?
In the 1920s and 1930s, Montana plunged into a crisis so deep
and so serious that it changed Montana’s personality. It affected
everyone who lived here, from the state capital to the Indian
reservations.
The crisis came in two parts. First, a ten-year drought (beginning
in 1917) dried up Montana’s farmlands. Homesteaders
lost their crops, their homes, their farms, and their life savings.
Impacts from the drought affected every Montana community—
especially in the agricultural east.
Then, in 1929, the U.S. economy crashed. America entered
the worst economic crisis in its history—the Great Depression.
Instead of helping Montana out of its economic troubles, the rest
of the country fell into the same desperate condition.
This was a time like no other time in Montana. For many
people, the Depression Era was so diffi cult and so painful that it
changed their whole outlook on life. People who had been optimistic
and hopeful became bitter and disappointed. Some became
very suspicious of change. Other people have fond memories
of this time because their families drew closer together. Some
people also benefi ted from some of the changes the Depression
Era brought.
3 5 3

FIGURE 18.2: For Montanans like sheep
rancher Charles McKenzie, the 1920s
and 1930s brought daily toil and few
luxuries.
1915
1917
Drought begins
1919–25
Half of Montana farmers
lose their land
1918
World War I ends
354
3 5 4 P A R T 3 : W A V E S O F D E V E L O P M E N T
The Depression changed Montana as a state, too. The government
sponsored projects to put unemployed Americans back to work. These
projects brought new technologies and new conveniences like electricity,
telephones, and modern roads to rural areas. Even while the economy
slumped, Montana became more modern.
If you have been through a very diffi cult time in your life, chances
are that your ability to survive and heal has become an important part
of who you are. This happens to societies, too. How people survived the
Depression, responded to challenges, and came up with new ideas is an
important part of the Montana story.
1920s: Depression Comes Early to Montana
A host of changes came to Montana just before the 1920s. Automobiles
arrived, making travel and transportation much easier—especially for
people who lived in the country. The Progressive Era brought new laws
to improve life and make government work better. Montana’s homesteading
boom brought thousands of new residents. They carved up
most of its last remaining open
lands into farms, ranches, and
townships.
America’s involvement in
World War I boosted Montana’s
economy. The war created a huge
demand for Montana’s copper,
lumber, and wheat. Then the infl
uenza epidemic of 1918 killed
5,000 Montanans in their beds.
Before the events of this chapter
began, Montana already was undergoing
many changes.
In 1917 the drought began: years
of dry, hot summers; springs with
no rain. In 1918 World War I ended.
The military canceled its purchases
1920 1925
1924
State taxes increased on
mining companies
1928
Montana has 50 paved
miles of highway

of copper, lumber, and wheat. The price of copper
plummeted (fell dramatically). Thousands
of lumbermen, miners, and smelter workers lost
their jobs. Farmers had planted as much wheat
as they could—and no other crop—to support
the war. But when wartime demand disappeared,
farmers could no longer make a living.
Half of Montana’s farmers lost their land between 1919 and 1925, and
70,000 people moved away. Businesses failed, banks closed, and many families
lost their life savings. When people could not pay their taxes, county
governments went bankrupt. While much of the rest of the country
enjoyed growth and prosperity in the 1920s, Montana struggled.
Drought destroyed many farms on the Indian reservations. Without
crops to sell, many Indian farmers sold off their lands. Tribes already
battled against allotment (the federal program of subdividing Indian
reservations into privately owned parcels), which subdivided some
reservations (land that tribes had reserved for their own use through
treaties) and sold off millions of acres of Indian-owned lands to farmers
and homesteaders (see Chapters 11 and 13).
Hope Dawns—Briefl y
1929
U.S. stock market crashes
1932
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
elected president
1930
Drought returns
“
In the mid-1920s rain began to fall again—in some places. Crops grew,
and some farmers began to prosper again, especially those who had
adopted good conservation techniques and who had planted a variety
of crops.
Another thing helped farmers prosper: bigger farms. The drought
had driven thousands of homesteaders off their land. The farmers who
survived could buy up neighboring farms at very low prices. Gas-driven
tractors and trucks enabled them to work more land. They had learned
that standard 160- or 320-acre homesteads could not produce enough
to support a family—but a 1,000-acre farm could.
A new tax law also brought relief. Until 1924 mining companies like
the Anaconda Copper Mining Company paid the lowest state taxes of
any group in Montana—yet earned more money than other industries.
1933
New Deal begins
1934
Congress passes the
Indian Reorganization
Act (IRA)
1933
Going-to-the-Sun Road in
Glacier National Park opens
Windstorms normally lasted three days.
The wind rose in early morning, died
down toward the third evening, and
rose again before sun-up.
”
—CHARLES VINDEX, A FARMER NEAR PLENTYWOOD
1936
Beartooth
Highway
opens
1934
International Mine, Mill and
Smelterworkers strike revitalizes
Montana union movement
1939
World War II
begins in Europe
1937
Drought ends
1941
United States enters
World War II
1930 1935 1940
1941
Montana has more than
7,000 miles of paved roads
(thanks to the New Deal)
355
1 3 — H O M E S T E A D I N G T H I S D R Y L A N D 3 5 5

FIGURE 18.3: Many Montanans, like this thin,
tired woman of Flathead Valley, were used
to working hard to build a better life for their
families. But when they lost what little they
had during the Depression, they wondered
if it was all worth it.
FIGURE 18.4: Millions of Mormon crickets
hopped across Montana’s farmlands in the
1930s. Farmers dug trenches and built metal
fences around their crops to keep them out,
but the Mormon crickets just piled up and
walked over one another’s backs. Here a Big
Horn County farmer cleans out a cricket trap.
3 5 6 P A R T 3 : W A V E S O F D E V E L O P M E N T
In 1924 Governor Joseph Dixon, a Progressive, supported an initiative
(a law passed by the people rather than by the legislature) increasing
state taxes on mining companies. The new tax law made mine owners
pay a larger share. The Company made sure that Dixon lost his bid for
reelection for what he had done. But the initiative succeeded. Farmers
no longer had to pay most of the costs of state government. Life started
to look more hopeful for Montana’s farmers.
The World Comes Crashing Down
In 1929 the entire U.S. economy crashed. A deep and lasting economic
depression hit the United States, Canada, and most of the developed
countries of the world. It was the worst economic crisis in U.S. history.
The stock market crashed. The average income of American workers was
cut in half. Thousands of businesses and banks failed, and across the
country one out of every four workers lost his or her job.
Historians still argue about what really caused the Great Depression
of 1929–41. Most of them agree it was a combination of forces. But the
results were devastating. Across the United States, people became almost
as poor as many Montanans had been for a decade.
The Great Depression pitched Montana’s economy into a downward
spiral. Crop prices dropped sharply again. Beef prices collapsed.
The price of copper fell from 18 cents per pound to 5 cents per pound.
The Anaconda Copper Mining Company cut its production levels by
90 percent. Industrial plants in Butte, Anaconda, East
Helena, and Great Falls closed. Mines and smelters laid
off thousands of workers. Every industry suffered.
Drought Returns—Worse than Ever
Then, in 1930, the drought returned. This time it covered
the entire Plains region from Canada to Mexico,
from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River.
The Plains became so dry that great swaths of topsoil
simply blew away in hot, dry windstorms. Swarms of
grasshoppers fl ew so thick they blotted out the sun.
Mormon crickets marched across the dry soil, devouring
everything in their path.
A weather observer said that 1931 was the driest in
30 years—only 5.67 inches of rain, less than half the
normal annual rainfall. A farmer in Daniels County
wrote in his diary, “The world is a dreary spot for
Montana grain growers.”
That year Governor John Erickson visited Scobey, a
town that promoted itself as the world’s largest wheatshipping
town. What he saw made him bury his head

in his hands. Of the 5,000 people living in Daniels
County, 3,500 of them were broke.
What Would You Do?
What would you do if you could not work,
could not grow food, and had no money? Many
Montanans left for the West Coast, where things
were not as bad. Many others found part-time
work or odd jobs.
Charles Vindex, a farmer outside Plentywood,
helped a neighbor cut and store ice, sawing until his
muscles trembled. “I would have said this was the
hardest work a man could do for $1.25,” he wrote
later. “A year later I did the same job for 75¢ a day.”
For the fi rst few years at least, the farmers could
feed their families on what they grew. City folk had
it tougher. With no jobs, no money, and no hope,
they appealed to the Red Cross and other agencies
for aid.
People scrimped (used less) and re-used
everything they could. Neighbors shared labor,
wagons, cars, and water. They patched their clothes,
then patched the patches. When their clothes wore out altogether, they
cut them into strips and wove rugs out of them. All across the state,
people hunted deer and elk until they nearly wiped them out. When one
group studied people in Butte in 1934, they discovered that fi ve out of
every six kids were malnourished (seriously underfed).
Local Relief Efforts
Were Not Enough
Towns and counties started their own programs
for work relief (relieving poverty
by giving people jobs). Towns hired men
to build playgrounds and parks. Counties
hired teams to build roads. But with so
many people too poor to pay their taxes,
towns and counties quickly ran out of
money to hire people.
Charities set up food banks and distributed
clothing to people in desperate
need. In 1931 the Red Cross shipped to
Montana and North Dakota 200 freightcar
loads of food and clothing donated
from people in other states. But soon the
“
A Letter from the
Depths of Despair
“I am an old man, 70 years old. I and my old
wife at the present time have one baking of
flour left and one pound of coffee. We have
no credit and no work . . . We have lived here
20 years and I have paid $3,500 in taxes
since I have been in Montana and this is the
end. What can you or anyone do about it?”
—J. E. FINCH, FARMER NEAR SUMATRA, IN A LETTER
TO GOVERNOR JOHN ERICKSON, JULY 16, 1931
Our family hadn’t had a crop in four
years. When you went to lunch,
the grasshoppers would gnaw at
the salt from your hands on your
pitchfork. Anyone who could get
out did.
”
—SAM RICHARDSON, WHO FARMED IN DANIELS COUNTY
FIGURE 18.5: Many Americans were
horrifi ed at the idea of being “down
and out”—so bad off that they could
not take care of themselves. So when
people helped one another, they also
offered encouragement. This woman
serves dinner to two unemployed
men at the Salvation Army in Butte.
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“
“
Many of us have put in the best years of
our life out here; we know what hardship,
privation and hard work means.
We realize that we must start over
somewhere else, as we have lost faith
and confi dence in this part of the country.
It isn’t easy for us to give up our
homes and admit defeat but we must
admit that we are done.”
—WARNER JUST, GARFIELD COUNTY FARMER, WRITING
TO SENATOR JAMES E. MURRAY, AUGUST 10, 1936
The thirties I don’t want to remember at
all. That was bad all the way through . . .
Nobody had any money . . . You could buy
a set of overalls for 25 cents but nobody had
25 cents. ”—WALLACE LOCKIE, MONTANA FARMER
FIGURE 18.6: Some people packed up and
moved to the West Coast, where there were
more opportunities. More than once, road
crews working on MacDonald Pass (east of
Helena) had to help heavily packed automobiles
get over the pass. They sometimes
gave the desperate families an extra dollar
or two to help out.
3 5 8 P A R T 3 : W A V E S O F D E V E L O P M E N T
churches and the charities were overwhelmed.
There were just too many families in need. For
Montanans who had carved farms out of the
grasslands by hard work and stout-heartedness,
asking for help was humiliating.
Montana hit bottom between 1930 and
1932. In 1930 one out of every four Montana
households received some kind of aid. In
January 1931 Governor Erickson told the
legislature (the branch of government that
passes laws) that he thought “the great
heart of the people of Montana will see
to it that destitution [extreme pov-
erty] and suffering are relieved.” But he
also told the legislature not to spend
any more money. The state had no
more money to provide relief, anyway.
Montana, along with many other states,
began pressuring the federal government
to help.
The 1932 Election: How Should the Government Help?
If you were president, what would you do? Herbert Hoover, a Republican,
was president of the United States in 1931. He did not think the government
should directly help poor people. He feared that giving aid directly
to poor people would make them dependent
on the government. He thought that
relief to individual families should come
from private sources—churches, charities,
and the Red Cross.
Hoover thought that government
should aid businesses. If businesses were
healthy, people would get their jobs back
and the economy would recover. He
thought that people needed jobs more
than food. “Nobody is starving,” he said.
But people were starving. Even if they
were not dying in the streets, long-term
poverty had weakened the health of
even hardy people. Some of the hardest
hit were disabled people who had been
injured while working and could not get
work at all.
The election of 1932 pitted two opposing
political ideas against each other.

LINCOLN
Hoover’s opponent was Franklin D. Roosevelt,
a Democrat. Roosevelt thought that the government
should use its resources to help the
millions of people who were suffering. He
proposed that the government strike a “new
deal” with the American people. Under this
“new deal,” the government would feed huge
amounts of money into each troubled state
to build roads, bridges, dams, sewer systems,
and other improvements. The government
would also provide loans to farmers to get
through the tough years and back on their feet.
The voters overwhelmingly elected Franklin D. Roosevelt. As
soon as he took offi ce, in 1933, his New Deal programs began.
Roosevelt knew that two of his most powerful supporters were
Montana’s two Democratic senators, Thomas J. Walsh (a senator from
1913 to 1933) and Burton K. Wheeler (a senator from 1923 to 1947). He
later repaid Walsh and Wheeler for their political backing by sending
important projects to Montana.
SANDERS
MINERAL
FLATHEAD
LAKE
MISSOULA
RAVALLI
GLACIER
GRANITE POWELL
SILVER
BOW
DEER LODGE
BEAVERHEAD
PONDERA
TETON
LEWIS
&
CLARK
JEFFERSON
MADISON
TOOLE
CASCADE
BROAD-
WATER
LIBERTY
GALLATIN
CHOUTEAU
MEAGHER
PARK
“
HILL
JUDITH
BASIN
“
We became shy of other people
during those patched and shabby
years. ”—CHARLES VINDEX
The world owes no man a living, but it
certainly owes all of its people a chance
to make a living.
”
—JOHN F. HAUGE, A GROCER IN PARADISE, WRITING TO
GOVERNOR JOHN E. ERICKSON, NOVEMBER 1931
BLAINE
WHEATLAND
MUSSELSHELL
GOLDEN
VALLEY
SWEET
GRASS
STILLWATER
CARBON
0-10
11-20
PHILLIPS
FERGUS GARFIELD
PETROLEUM
YELLOWSTONE
21-30
31-40
TREASURE
BIG HORN
VALLEY
ROSEBUD
MCCONE
Percentage of Montanans on Relief by County, February 1935
FIGURE 18.7: In February 1935 all but
ten Montana counties had more than
10 percent of their population on relief.
DANIELS SHERIDAN
ROOSEVELT
CUSTER
DAWSON
PRAIRIE
POWDER
RIVER
RICHLAND
WIBAUX
FALLON
CARTER
1 8 — T H E G R E A T D E P R E S S I O N T R A N S F O R M S M O N T A N A 3 5 9

FIGURE 18.8: President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, shown here at Fort Peck,
visited Montana three times during
the 1930s. Tribal leaders at the Fort
Peck Indian Reservation made him
an honorary chief in 1934.
3 6 0 P A R T 3 : W A V E S O F D E V E L O P M E N T
Roosevelt and the New Deal
Roosevelt’s New Deal lasted from 1933 to 1939. It had three goals: to
bring relief to hungry, unemployed people; to help the economy to recover;
and to bring reforms that would make sure an economic crisis
like this never happened again.
First, Roosevelt sent relief funds to each state to help the people who
were in the most desperate situations. He closed all the banks temporarily
so they could reorganize and open up again on stronger footing. The
government also created a federal insurance program for banks. Today,
if your bank fails, the government insures your family’s deposits so you
would not lose your life savings.
The second phase was a series of work programs. These programs
put unemployed people back to work. They brought practical, muchneeded
improvements to cities and counties across the country. And by
doing these things, they restored hope and pride to people whose spirits
had been crushed by despair.
The New Deal included an alphabet of laws and programs designed
to improve the economy:
• AAA (1933)—The Agricultural Adjustment Acts were several laws
to help farmers. They allowed the government to raise prices of farm
goods and to pay farmers to reduce their crop production so that
there would not be so much extra on the market. The AAA brought

“
between $5 million and $10 million to Montana
farmers. They came to rely on this program to
survive.
• FCA (1933)—The Farm Credit Administration
gave farmers easy loans so they could pay
taxes and buy grain. This program helped prevent
farmers from losing their land, as so many had in the 1920s.
• REA (1935)—The Rural Electrifi cation Administration formed
non-profi t corporations to provide electricity to rural farms and
ranches. Low-cost electricity greatly improved life in Montana’s
rural communities. It also created competition for Montana Power
Company—which was not pleased.
• CCC (1933)—The Civilian Conservation Corps was one of the
most popular of the New Deal programs. The CCC hired young men
17 to 25 years old to work in national parks, national forests, state
forests, and campgrounds. They fought fi res, planted trees, and prevented
stream bank erosion (wearing away). They also built trails,
fi re lookout towers, and campgrounds. Young men earned $30 per
month (equal to about $467 today), kept $5, and sent $25 home
to their families. By the time the program ended, in 1942, it had
employed nearly 3 million young men around the country.
• NIRA (1933) and Wagner Act (1935)—The National Industrial
Recovery Act and the Wagner Act guaranteed workers the right to
organize unions. Anaconda Copper Mining Company workers took
advantage of these laws, striking for higher wages in 1934.
When you listened to Franklin D., you
were listening to hope.
”
—JOHN C. HARRISON OF THE JUDITH BASIN, WHO WAS
16 WHEN THE GREAT DEPRESSION BEGAN
FIGURE 18.9: The WPA—Works
Progress Administration—created
projects to put people to work and
improve their communities. The WPA
sponsored bookmobiles like this one
in Fairfi eld. Trucks from town libraries
drove to neighborhoods and rural areas
carrying library books, which residents
could check out and return the next
time the bookmobile came through.
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We Learned to Drive
on the Fort Peck Project
“Erick Olson, who went to work on the Fort
Peck Dam in the mid-1930s, recalled that he
‘never knew what a tractor was till I got to
Fort Peck.’ A superintendent came up to his
crew one day and asked, ‘Is there any man
here that can drive a pick-up?’ And there
never was a hand that had lifted and he went
on to the next crew and do you know there
was not a man that could drive a pick-up.’
Olson learned to drive on the Fort Peck job.”
—MARY MURPHY, HOPE IN HARD TIMES (2003)
FIGURE 18.10: Indian Civilian
Conservation Corps crews, like
this Blackfeet logging and forestry
crew, provided needed jobs on
the reservation.
3 6 2 P A R T 3 : W A V E S O F D E V E L O P M E N T
• PWA (1933)—The Public Works Administration
built large projects designed to improve the infrastructure
(basic facilities, such as roads,
bridges, water, sewer, and communications) of
the nation. In Montana, the PWA built sewagedisposal
plants, hospitals, and its largest project,
the Fort Peck Dam.
• WPA (1935)—The Works Progress Administration—like
the PWA—was designed to put
people to work. The WPA hired 20,000 people
to build roads and bridges, schools, airports,
water systems, and sewers. It built 10,000 new
privies (outhouses) in rural areas. This program
also sponsored artistic and cultural projects for
writers, musicians, and photographers.
Of all these programs, the CCC, the PWA, and
the WPA put the most Montanans to work. CCC crew members built
many of our parks and campgrounds. Women in WPA sewing rooms
sewed more than 800,000 garments, curtains, bedspreads, and rugs for
the relief program. The WPA paid dentists, doctors, and nurses to provide
health care. Every day we drive over roads and bridges built by the
WPA, though no one still uses the privies they built.
Other WPA workers created remarkable, lasting works that are
important records of twentieth-century America. Writers and photographers
contributed unforgettable artworks documenting many cultures
and aspects of life. Culture committees began recording oral histories
and stories of Indian tribes.

New Deal Projects Brought Jobs to the Reservations
On Indian reservations, many people were already so poor that the
Depression made little difference. When New Deal programs brought
jobs to the reservations, many families began to rise out of poverty.
An American Indian Division of the CCC hired young men on the
reservations to build water reservoirs, dig wells, fi ght fi res, and help with
other federal projects. CCC jobs gave workers housing, food, and a small
salary, which they would not have had otherwise.
Crow tribal historian Joe Medicine Crow later said that even though
the pay was low, the CCC jobs were important to Crow men. “Up to that
time there were no jobs for Indians here,” he said. “The Crow found
work, employment from the government—maybe only $30 a month.
Dollar a day. But they are making money. Something new. They learned
to become professionals in carpentry and heavy equipment operating.”
Fort Peck Dam: Enduring Symbol of the New Deal
President Roosevelt owed Montana senators Burton K. Wheeler and
Thomas J. Walsh a favor for helping him get elected. That favor became
the biggest PWA project in the country: the Fort Peck Dam.
Construction started in 1934 on the Missouri River just above the
mouth of the Milk River. When it was fi nished, in 1940, it was the largest
earth-fi lled dam in the world. It created the fi fth-largest human-made
lake in the country—16 miles wide and 134 miles long. The dam stands
258 feet at its highest, and stretches 2 miles wide.
The Fort Peck Dam brought
11,000 workers from all over
Montana and elsewhere into Valley
and McCone Counties at the southwest
edge of the Fort Peck Indian
Reservation. Little towns like
Wheeler, New Deal, and Delano
Heights (Delano was Roosevelt’s
middle name) sprang up to house,
feed, and entertain laborers. Many
of those people, newly trained in
skilled jobs, stayed in Montana to
raise their families after the dam
was complete.
The dam’s turbines (motors
powered by water) created 185,250
kilowatts of electricity that provided
power to the region. The dam also
gave the Army Corps of Engineers
the ability to manage the Missouri
FIGURE 18.11: The Fort Peck Dam was an
immense example of American muscle and
engineering know-how. It immediately became
a symbol of America’s recovery from
the Great Depression.
FIGURE 18.12: One of the goals of the Fort
Peck Dam project was to put unemployed
Americans back to work. But not everyone
pictured in this November 25, 1936, photo
is actually working. The offi cials in hats on
the upper left have come to observe, and
some of the workers on the upper right
just want to be in the picture.
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FIGURE 18.13: During the 1930s government
photographers traveled across the
country documenting the effects of the
Depression and the success of New Deal
programs. This picture was taken in
Teton County.
3 6 4 P A R T 3 : W A V E S O F D E V E L O P M E N T
River’s fl ow by holding or releasing water as needed to prevent fl ooding
downstream. More than anything else, the dam became a powerful symbol
of hope and strength to a nation that had almost lost faith in itself.
Unions Regain Strength
The 1933 National Industrial Recovery Act revived unions in western
Montana. Unions had lost strength during World War I, when patriotism
and industrial production were more important than workers’ rights. But
during the Depression, more people supported the labor unions.
In May 1934 the International Mine, Mill and Smelterworkers Union
went on strike (an organized protest in which workers refuse to work)
against the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. They demanded
higher pay, a 40-hour workweek, and safety improvements. They also
demanded that Anaconda hire only union members for its laborers.
Eleven other unions joined the walkout. Even state leaders agreed with
the strike.
In previous strikes, the Company had been
able to call on the government to force laborers
back to work. But this time the public strongly
supported the unionists. Anaconda agreed
to many of the union’s demands. The strikers’
victory began a new day for Montana’s
unions, whose political and economic power
grew in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.
The “New Deal”
for American Indians
In the 1920s many Americans complained
to the government that the Indian reservations
had been appallingly mismanaged. So
many people spoke out that the government
decided to study the matter. In 1926 the government
sent out a team of researchers, led
by Lewis Meriam, to see what life was like
on Indian reservations. For two years they
visited reservation homes, schools, hospitals,
and agencies across the West.
Meriam’s 800-page report strongly criticized
the federal government for its treatment
of American Indians. It told of Indian people
struggling against the worst poverty in the
nation, living on unfarmable land with no
jobs and no opportunities. American Indians,
the report said, made less than one-tenth the

average income of most Americans. They were malnourished and sick
with curable diseases. Their children were still being sent off to faraway
boarding schools. Meanwhile, the report said, the government misused
tribal funds and ignored the needs of Indian people.
The Meriam Report called for immediate, widespread changes in
federal Indian policy.
The Indian Reorganization Act
Roosevelt appointed John Collier as commissioner of Indian affairs.
Collier was an outspoken advocate (supporter) of American Indian
rights. He called the earlier federal policy to erase tribal cultures and to
assimilate (to absorb into the majority culture) Indian people “a crime
against the earth.”
When he took offi ce, Collier learned that since the Allotment Act of
1887 (also known as the Dawes Act), Indian lands had shrunk from 138
million acres to 47 million acres. Tribal funds had shriveled from $500
million to $12 million. Most of these funds had gone to government
expenses and corruption—not to help the tribes.
Collier pushed Congress to pass new laws that would give tribes
more say over their own future. He called for Congress to “stop wronging
the Indians and to rewrite the cruel and stupid laws that rob them
and crush their family lives.”
In 1934 Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA).
Montana senator Burton K. Wheeler cosponsored the act, so it was also
called the Wheeler-Howard Act.
The IRA radically changed U.S. policy toward American Indians.
Instead of trying to destroy tribal
cultures, federal policy now gave tribes
some limited powers of self-government
and encouraged them to strengthen their
cultures.
The IRA was one of the most important
laws affecting Indian tribes since
the Dawes Act. It put an end to the
allotment system, which had removed
so much land from Indian ownership
(see Chapter 11). It also returned some
land back to tribes.
The IRA also established several
important rights for American Indians:
• The right to establish tribal governments
with their own constitutions
(documents that set rules for government)—still
subject to the approval of
the federal government, however.
FIGURE 18.14: Even after Montanans
went back to work, they remembered
the lessons of the boom-and-bust
cycle. Some families moved into nicer
houses, but others—like the Butte
owners of this new automobile—spent
money only on things they could take
with them if the bust came again.
1 8 — T H E G R E A T D E P R E S S I O N T R A N S F O R M S M O N T A N A 3 6 5

FIGURE 18.15: After the Indian
Reorganization Act was passed,
tribes across the West could once
again hold Sun Dances and other
religious ceremonies without being
punished by the government. Here
Northern Cheyenne families bring
food offerings to a medicine lodge
during a Sun Dance in the 1930s.
3 6 6 P A R T 3 : W A V E S O F D E V E L O P M E N T
• The right to form business corporations and to get federal loans so
they could participate in the economy.
• The right to practice their own religion (the government prohibited
Indian religious ceremonies in the early reservation years).
• An immediate end to federal funding for off-reservation boarding
schools.
• More infl uence within the Bureau of Indian Affairs so American Indians
could have a bigger say in their own future.
Some tribes objected to the IRA because it required tribes to set up
their governments like the U.S. government, with representatives and
constitutions. It did not allow the tribes to return to their own traditional
forms of government. The Bureau of Indian Affairs wrote a standard constitution
for all the tribes to adopt. Even though the IRA gave tribes more
powers, the government still supervised everything they did.
In the end 181 tribes accepted the IRA, created tribal governments, and
adopted the constitution given them. Most of these tribes have revised their
constitutions over the years to better suit their people and traditions.
About one-third of the Indian tribes in the country rejected the IRA.
The Crow tribe was one. The Crow people wrote and adopted their own
constitution in 1948 that more closely refl ected tribal traditions.
In the fi rst 15 years after the IRA passed, more than 70 tribes used
federal loans to set up businesses—and paid off the loans. The number
of Indian-owned cattle ranches doubled. The death rates on reservations
dropped in half. And to the joy and relief of Indian parents nationwide, 16

oarding schools closed (or turned into day schools) and 84 day schools
opened in reservation towns.
The IRA did not improve everything. It did not restore to the tribes the
millions of acres of land lost in allotments. And it did not allow tribes to
return to their traditional methods of government. While tribes struggled
to rebuild their cultures after 50 years of forced assimilation (when
one culture is absorbed into the majority culture), they still had to follow
government rules. Many Indian people found this very frustrating.
A New Montana Emerges
In 1937 the drought broke. Rains fell,
crops grew, and Montana’s economy
slowly began to come alive again.
Businesses expanded and hired more
people in permanent jobs. Stronger
labor unions brought improved
working conditions for laborers and
craft workers.
A new Montana emerged from
the Great Depression. Telephones and
electricity came to many rural areas,
making life easier and improving communication.
Nearly half the farms had
gas-powered trucks and tractors. Roads
and automobiles brought people together
and brought crops to market.
New Deal projects had changed
farmers into skilled industrial workers.
Many young men saw no future
in farming or had lost their land.
They learned new skills building the
Fort Peck Dam or engineering bridges
and roads, and never went back to
the farm.
Thousands of acres of farm and
ranch land had changed hands. The
drought had wiped out all but the
most successful farms. The people who
remained bought up abandoned farmland
for pennies—sometimes 45 cents
an acre. By 1940 the average farm had
increased from 360 acres to over 1,000
acres. Larger farms and ranches stood
a better chance of surviving Montana’s
weather cycles.
FIGURE 18.16: State government expanded
to provide more services to the
people—including building and maintaining
state parks. This artful poster
from the 1930s advertised Montana’s
state parks to tourists and campers.
1 8 — T H E G R E A T D E P R E S S I O N T R A N S F O R M S M O N T A N A 3 6 7

FIGURE 18.17: The New Deal sent
many Montanans back to work. But
it was World War II that really revved
up Montana’s economy, especially
by boosting industries that provided
materials used in the war, like
Anaconda’s smelter.
3 6 8 P A R T 3 : W A V E S O F D E V E L O P M E N T
The Depression and the New Deal changed life for the Anaconda
Copper Mining Company. A stronger state government—and stronger
labor unions—limited the Company’s power over Montana. The Fort
Peck Dam and federal electrifi cation programs directly competed with
Anaconda’s sister company, the Montana Power Company. The government
regulated electricity prices and railroad rates. And, in 1933, the
Company’s forceful leader, John D. Ryan, died.
The Company remained extremely powerful in Montana. It still
owned many of the state’s newspapers and still employed more workers
than any other single business in Montana. It remained one of the
strongest political forces, too. But after the New Deal, the Company had
to learn to work with other organizations.
A Government Presence Everywhere
The Great Depression and the New Deal changed Montana’s personality.
The state now depended on the federal government for its economic
stability. New Deal projects had brought
$381.5 million in aid, plus another $142
million in loans, into Montana. Because
of the state’s large land base and small
population, it received the secondlargest
aid package in the nation per
capita (person). It totaled $974 in aid and
loans (about $14,300 today) for every
man, woman, and child in Montana. To
this day, Montanans cherish their independence
yet depend on government
programs to make life better.
Farmers came to rely on federal farm
subsidies (fi nancial help from the
government) to survive in an everchanging
market. Counties and state
government relied on federal roadbuilding
programs to provide money
and jobs. And many people came to depend
on other New Deal programs like
Social Security, which provided old-age
pensions (retirement pay) for workers,
the blind, and people with physical disabilities.
This program helped thousands
of Montanans survive if they could
not work.
The state and federal governments
also began managing and preserving
wildlife. Americans had become alarmed

at the loss of wildlife during the Depression. State fi sh and wildlife agencies
worked to restore wildlife populations.
State government expanded dramatically, forming new agencies and
offi ces to handle all the money and programs. State offi ces became more
professional and bureaucratic (concerned with offi cial procedure) to
minimize opportunities for corruption.
By 1940 the Anaconda Copper Mining Company and the railroads
no longer dominated Montana. Federal and state government became
an equally important presence.
The New Deal Changed Montana Politics
The struggles and changes in this period brought big changes to Montana’s
politics. Remember the election of 1932, in which Franklin Roosevelt
challenged Herbert Hoover? These
two candidates presented two very
different views of the responsibilities
of government. Hoover was conservative,
while Roosevelt was liberal.
These terms have many meanings
and they have changed over time.
But generally these terms describe
two opposite forces in our country’s
political life.
Conservatives favor big business,
because business drives the economy,
and small government, because taxes
and government regulations restrict
business activities. People who are
wealthy, own businesses, or have
ties to the military or to evangelical
churches tend to be conservative.
Liberals favor strong government,
because the government represents the
voice of the people against powerful
corporations. They favor more
restrictions on corporate activities that
might harm people, society, or the environment.
Traditionally, scholars and
intellectuals and people who earn
lower or middle incomes, are members
of labor unions, or belong to a nonwhite
ethnic group tend to be liberals.
The Depression Era changed how
Montanans voted. They often elected
conservative leaders at home and sent
FIGURE 18.18: When the Depression
ended, Montana was a mix of old
and new. This Fairfi eld sidewalk,
photographed in 1939, still had
an old-fashioned hand pump where
townspeople could get water. But
the sign advertising Coca-Cola
signals a more modern era.
1 8 — T H E G R E A T D E P R E S S I O N T R A N S F O R M S M O N T A N A 3 6 9

3 7 0 P A R T 3 : W A V E S O F D E V E L O P M E N T
liberal representatives to Congress. This was because they knew that
conservative state politicians would spend less money, promote business
activity, and help businesses grow. But liberal administrations in
Washington, D.C., usually sponsored more generous federal aid programs,
so it paid to send liberals to Washington. This somewhat odd pattern
began in the early 1900s and lasted through most of the century.
War in Europe Revives
the Nation’s Economy
Roosevelt’s New Deal did not end the Great Depression. It did keep
thousands of Montanans alive, employed, and fed through the toughest
years. It gave people meaningful work that improved their communities.
And it helped people recover hope in the future and pride in
themselves.
What ended the Great Depression was war. In 1939 Germany invaded
Poland. France and England declared war on Germany. America’s participation
in World War II dramatically revived the Montana economy.
Just as in World War I, the United States supported its allies with food
and supplies. New military contracts for metals, lumber, wheat, and oil
activated the economy. Montana’s industries boomed again.
The next fi ve years brought record profi ts to farmers, ranchers,
and other Montana industries. And they brought a turning point in
Montana history.
FIGURE 18.19: With crops in the ground and food on the table, many Montanans once
again felt secure and hopeful about the future.

Expressions of the People
Montana’s Post
Offi ce Murals
During the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt
wanted to create jobs, lift people’s spirits, and give Americans
“a more abundant life.” One way was to hire artists
to create and install art in public places.
Between 1937 and 1942 the government hired Montana
artists to paint murals for six Montana post offi ces—in Dillon,
Deer Lodge, Sidney, Hamilton, Billings, and Glasgow. Post
offi ces were community gathering places
where people frequently stopped to visit
and do business. They made a natural choice
for public art projects.
The government often asked artists to
paint scenes from local history. The murals
emphasized themes that would appeal to the
whole community. Painter Elizabeth Lochrie
chose to depict a varied group of Indians,
cowboys, and travelers gathered around a
mailbox in Frying Pan Basin, along the stage
route between Dillon and Butte. Her painting,
News from the States, emphasized the
importance of mail from the outside during
the early territorial days.
Artist Henry Meloy painted Flathead War
Party for the Hamilton post offi ce, showing a
war party preparing to attack the Blackfeet,
with Mount Como in the background. For
FIGURE 18.20: Montana painter
Elizabeth Lochrie smiles at the
camera while she and two unidentifi ed
assistants install her mural, News from
the States, in Dillon. Postmaster Harry
Andrus, on the fl oor, was a great fan
of Lochrie’s work.

FIGURE 18.21: Montana artist Henry Meloy
(1902–1951) was born in Townsend. He
studied art in Chicago and New York and
later taught art at Columbia University.
His mural, Flathead War Party, shows the
tribe getting ready to attack the Blackfeet
in the Bitterroot Valley.
the Deer Lodge post offi ce, Verona Burkhard painted James
and Granville Stuart Prospecting in Deer Lodge Valley—1858.
Townspeople watched the artists’ progress as they stopped
by the post offi ce to pick up mail each day. Sometimes they
commented on the paintings. In Glasgow a women’s group
complained about artist Forrest Hill’s painting, Early Settlers
and Residents and Modern Industries. The painting originally
included a gambler drinking whiskey. But after intense
pressure from the women’s group, Hill painted in a woman
carrying a Bible instead.
But usually the paintings excited locals. Verona Burkhard
wrote to the local postmaster, “People of Deer Lodge surprised
me by their great interest in the mural.”
Painter Leo Beaulaurier, who created a mural in the Billings
post offi ce, said the program was a great help to Montana
artists. “It was a hard time for the arts,” he said. “People could
barely afford necessities, much less paintings.”
Today all six post offi ce murals still hang in their original
spots. Five of the six have been cleaned and restored. These
paintings capture important moments in Montana history.
They also remind Montanans how important public art can
be—in good times and bad.

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING
1. Identify: (a) New Deal; (b) National Industrial
Recovery Act; (c) Meriam Report; (d) Indian
Reorganization Act
2. Defi ne: (a) initiative; (b) malnourished; (c) work
relief; (d) infrastructure; (e) subsidies; (f) pension;
(g) bureaucratic; (h) conservative; (i) liberal
3. Why did hard economic times arrive earlier in
Montana than in the rest of the nation?
4. What hopeful, if short-lived, sign of better times
occurred in the mid-1920s?
5. What major Montana industries were affected by
the stock market crash of 1929?
6. Why were people in rural areas better able
to cope during the early years of the Great
Depression than people in cities?
7. What was one of the main issues of the 1932
presidential election?
8. Describe the three goals of the New Deal.
9. How did the New Deal help people living on
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
reservations?
How did the Fort Peck Dam project boost
Montana’s economy?
What federal legislation made it easier for
Anaconda Copper Mining Company employees
to organize unions?
What did the Meriam Report conclude about
federal Indian policy?
Describe the Indian Reorganization Act.
Why did some Indians disagree with parts of the
Indian Reorganization Act?
What are some of the main differences between
liberals and conservatives?
What international event helped end the Great
Depression?
CRITICAL THINKING
1. Think about the reasons the text gives to
explain why some tribes opposed the Indian
Reorganization Act. Do you think these are
understandable concerns and disagreements?
Why or why not?
2. How did the presidential candidates of 1932
refl ect the traditional viewpoints of conservatives
and liberals?
3. Look at the map on page 359. Which counties
were hardest hit by the Depression? Which were
the least affected? Form a hypothesis to explain
your fi ndings. What further research could you
undertake to test your theory?
4. If you had been an eastern Montana farmer
during the 1930s, do you think you would have
wanted to stay on your farm? What would you
lose by leaving? What would you gain?
CHAPTER 18 REVIEW
PAST TO PRESENT
1. The government programs put in place to help
people during the Great Depression were wildly
popular. Today, programs aimed at helping the
poor sometimes generate more controversy.
What accounts for this change in attitude?
2. Do you think Montana could experience such
hard economic times again? Why or why not?
MAKE IT LOCAL
1. What organized charities exist in your
hometown? Are these charities able to help
everyone in need?
EXTENSION ACTIVITIES
1. Research the building of the Fort Peck Dam.
Create a poster or PowerPoint presentation on
one aspect of the dam’s story.
2. Learn more about the New Deal work programs
(the CCC and the WPA). What permanent
projects did they create? What nonpermanent
services did they provide?
3. Research some of the arts projects created under
the Works Progress Administration. Compare
these projects with projects produced by the
National Endowment for the Arts. Analyze
the differences and similarities between these
programs and then debate their worth to society.
4. The Farm Security Administration (a New Deal
program) sent four photographers to Montana
as part of a larger documentary photography
project. Research the project and analyze some of
its Montana images. Then update the FSA project
by creating a photography project to document
your community today.
5. Write a diary entry or letter, set during the 1930s,
from one of the following points of view: an
eastern Montana farmer; an Indian living on a
Montana reservation; a worker on the Fort Peck
Dam project; an artist hired to paint a post offi ce
mural; or a young man from the city who has
taken a job with the CCC in the national forest.
6. The New Deal increased Montana’s dependence
on the federal government. Research the
federal presence in Montana today, including
the amount of federal money spent in the state.
Discuss the pros and cons of this situation.
1 8 — T H E G R E A T D E P R E S S I O N T R A N S F O R M S M O N T A N A 3 7 3

Credits
The following abbreviations are used in the credits:
BBHC Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming
GNPA Glacier National Park Archives
LOC Library of Congress
MAC Montana Arts Council, Helena
MDEQ Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Helena
MDT Montana Department of Transportation, Helena
MFWP Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Helena
MHS Montana Historical Society, Helena
MHSA Montana Historical Society Archives, Helena
MHSL Montana Historical Society Library, Helena
MHS Mus. Montana Historical Society Museum, Helena
MHS PA Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, Helena
MSU COT Montana State University College of Technology, Billings
NMAI National Museum American Indian, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C.
MSU Billings Special Collections, Montana State University
Billings Library
NARA National Archives and Records Administration
NPS National Park Service
NRIS Natural Resource Information System, Montana State
Library, Helena
SHPO State Historic Preservation Offi ce, Montana Historical
Society, Helena
TM Travel Montana, Helena
UM Missoula Archives & Special Collections, The University
of Montana-Missoula
USDA United States Department of Agriculture
USFS United States Forest Service
WMM World Museum of Mining, Butte
Chapter 18
fig. 18.1 No Place to Go, Maynard Dixon, 1935, oil on canvas, 251 ⁄8 x 30
inches, courtesy Brigham Young University Museum of Art,
part of Harold R. Clark Memorial Collection
fig. 18.2 Charles McKenzie’s sheep ranch, Garfi eld County, photo by
John Vachon, 1942, courtesy LOC LC-USF34-064965-D
fig. 18.3 Mrs. Ballinger, Flathead Valley, photo by John Vachon, 1942,
courtesy LOC LC-USF34-065186-D
fig. 18.4 Cricket traps, Big Horn County, photo by Arthur Rothstein,
1939, courtesy LOC LC-USF34-027411-D
fig. 18.5 Salvation Army, Butte, 1935, photo by L. H. Jorud, MHS PA
PAc 74-37
fig. 18.6 Oregon or Bust, near Missoula, photo by Arthur Rothstein,
1936, courtesy LOC LC-USF34-005008-D
fig. 18.7 Percentage of Montanans on relief by county, 1935,
map by MHS with information from Carol F. Kraenzel and
Ruth B. McIntosh, The Relief Problem in Montana: A Study of the
Change in the Character of the Relief Population, bulletin no. 343
(Bozeman, 1937), p. 10
fig. 18.8 L-R: F. D. R. with Col. T. B. Larkin, District Engineer, and
George H. Dern, Secretary of War, Fort Peck Dam, 1934, MHS PA
fig. 18.9 WPA Bookmobile, Fairfi eld, MHS PA PAc 89-38 F5
fig. 18.10 CCC camp, courtesy Dr. William E. Farr, Missoula
fig. 18.11 Fort Peck Dam, photo by Donnie Sexton, courtesy TM
fig. 18.12 Fort Peck Dam construction, 1936, MHS PA
fig. 18.13 Farmer’s daughter in storage cellar, Fairfi eld Bench
Farms, photo by Arthur Rothstein, 1939, courtesy LOC
LC-USF34-027311-D
fig. 18.14 Home and car, Butte, photo by Russell Lee, 1942,
courtesy LOC LC-USW3-009706-D
fig. 18.15 Men and young boys at Medicine Lodge, courtesy BBHC,
Jack Richard Collection PN.165.2.1
fig. 18.16 Poster, ca. 1935, MHS Mus. 1980.61.165
fig. 18.17 Anaconda Smelter workers, photo by Russell Lee, 1942,
courtesy LOC LC-USW3-008534-D
fig. 18.18 Pool parlor, Fairfi eld, photo by Arthur Rothstein, 1939,
courtesy LOC LC-USF33-003106-M4
fig. 18.19 Farm family at dinner, Fairfi eld Bench Farms, photo by
Arthur Rothstein, 1939, courtesy LOC LC-USF34-027323-D
fig. 18.20 Elizabeth Lochrie installing her mural in Dillon Post Offi ce,
1938, MHS PA PAc 80-61
fig. 18.21 Flathead War Party, mural by Henry J. Meloy, Hamilton
Post Offi ce, 1942, photo by Don Beatty, 1987, MHS PA